When a camera with speech recognition capabilities is used by a consumer, the camera responds to user inquiries and operating commands input by vocal instructions. Such a speech recognition camera is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,951,079 by Hoshino et. al. The speech recognition capability in such a camera resides entirely within the camera and is useable only for this camera.
Although the presently known and utilized camera tripod is satisfactory, there are drawbacks. Using speech recognition to remotely control camera operations poses limitations when using certain commands. For instance, there is no advantage to remotely zoom a camera if the user cannot alter the camera's position, as in the prior art cameras. Consequently, a need exists for overcoming the above-described drawbacks.